County To Increase Building Fees

April 19, 1985|By Fred Lowery, Staff Writer

Building permit fees in Palm Beach County will increase 10 to 15 percent in October in the wake of an expansion of the county`s Planning, Zoning and Building Department approved by county commissioners Tuesday.

But at the same time, county residents will see road improvement projects taking shape more quickly with the reorganization of the county`s Engineering Department that commissioners also approved.

According to Planning, Zoning and Building Director Bob Basehart, the increases would have been more if commissioners had not approved using tax funds collected in unincorporated areas to establish new offices for economic planning, industrial development and ecological planning.

That action marks the first time since the early 1970s that the department will have relied on anything but revenue from building and development permit fees to operate. The new money will come from a special Municipal Services Taxing District established more than a decade ago, but never used.

The three new offices will cost some $80,000 for the rest of this fiscal year, and $190,000 next fiscal year, Basehart said, along with an estimated $300,000 next year for one-time industrial and economic analyses by outside consultants.

County Engineer Herb Kahlert told commissioners he plans to separate his department into two divisions, one for transportation projects and one for all other projects.

``With the additional numbers of dollars we will have coming in for road construction,`` he said, ``it will mean more work. There has just generally been an increase in the amount of work my office does daily and annually.``

By putting transportation projects into a single division, Kahlert said, those projects will be able to move more quickly from the drawing board to actual construction.

How much more quickly, he said, depends on how soon new engineers are hired and plans developed.

In addition, the reorganization will shift supervision of development of Palm Beach International Airport to his department from the Department of Airports, Kahlert said.

Basehart said the decision to rely on tax funds rather than fees for the three specialized planning offices will insure the stability that they will need over a long period of time.

``One of the problems with fee income is that it is too volatile,`` Basehart said, noting that during down cycles in the building and development industry, his department has had to cut work days and lay off employees to remain self- sufficient from permit fees.